


The Joke That Changed It All

by TvFan16



Series: Maggie & Jubal balance work and dating [1]
Category: FBI (TV 2018)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Pre-Relationship, Romance, Secret Relationship, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29845788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TvFan16/pseuds/TvFan16
Summary: Jubal makes a joke while doing paperwork with Maggie that has the potential to change everything.
Relationships: Maggie Bell & Jubal Valentine, Maggie Bell/Jubal Valentine
Series: Maggie & Jubal balance work and dating [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1929145
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	The Joke That Changed It All

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of my Maggie and Jubal balance work and dating collection. Some people had messaged me on here to see if I would write about how Jubal and Maggie actually got together. There may be a couple more chapters that will be there actual first dates and first kiss.

The team had been working nonstop for the last four days on a really tough case, it had really drained them all as they needed to catch the killer before he added another victim. They were sitting at their desks doing the paperwork as they all wanted to get this case completely wrapped up before they went home. Jubal came walking over to the four of them, 

“Why don’t you all head home, I’m sure that you have somewhere better to be on a Friday evening than stuck here doing paperwork. I can finish up here.”

OA lifted his head looking at Jubal “Are you sure? Don’t you want to get out of here and go see the kids?”.

Jubal smiled as he appreciated that the team wanted to let him go home to see his kids, “The kids are out of town this weekend seeing family on their mum’s side. So honestly you guys go home, make the most of it”.

Kristen, Stuart, and OA didn’t have to be told twice, once they knew that they weren’t stopping Jubal from seeing his kids they started packing up their bags but Maggie continued on with her paperwork. Kristen looked at Maggie

“Maggie you know that we don’t get this offer very often, I mean Jubal hates paperwork, aren’t you going to take advantage and go home?”.

“Oh you could tell what was his name…” OA clicked his fingers when he remembered “Ben, you can tell Ben that you got finished up early and can go out on that date after all.”

Maggie rolled her eyes, hearing OA “Remind me again why I am friends with you?.” The playful tone was evident in Maggie’s voice.

“Because your life would not be the same without my friendship, and you know that I am going to keep setting you up on dates. This one wasn’t even me, the guy asked you the other day when you were picking up coffee for us.” OA had a small smirk on his face as he spoke.

“Hmm mmm I’m still not convinced that you didn’t send him my way considering that he saw that I was there with someone, how did he know we were only work partners?” Maggie raised her eyebrow, looking at OA.

Kristen, Stuart, and Jubal had to admit that it was fun watching OA and Maggie right now, it’s not like OA was being discreet about trying to get Maggie out on dates. In fact they were sure that the whole JOC knew what he was up to. OA looked at Maggie as he spoke

“You are wasting time sitting here arguing with me when you could be out on a date. Text Ben, you can still have your date tonight.”

Maggie shook her head “OA go home and annoy Mona, give me the weekend off, and if you are so fascinated with dates go take your girlfriend on a date, leave my love life alone for the weekend at least.”

“You will regret it, Ben seemed like a nice guy... But you are right, I am going to go take Mona out for a date night.”

OA hugged Maggie before saying goodnight to the others and headed towards the elevator, Stuart said goodnight to them as well and told OA to wait up that he would walk out with him. Kristen looked at Maggie

“You know now that your matchmaker has gone you sure you don’t want to head home? I have a bottle of wine and a bath with my name on it.” It may not sound exciting for a Friday night but it was rare that they got the weekend off and Kristen was planning on relaxing and catching up with family and friends.

“I’m good honestly, I’m going to finish up here before I head out. Go, I can see how much you want to get home to that bottle of wine”. Maggie laughed softly as she hugged Kristen saying goodnight “I’ll talk to you over the weekend.”

Kristen left after saying goodnight to Jubal, who was now leaning against OA’s desk looking at Maggie “The idea of going home to an empty apartment not appeal to you either?”.

Maggie leaned back in her chair as she looked at Jubal listening to his question “That obvious?”.

Jubal shook his head hearing Maggie “No, the others just think you are staying here to avoid that date, but as someone who doesn’t want to go home to an empty apartment either it was clear for me to see. If you feel up to some company while finishing this paperwork you can join me in the conference room, chairs are more comfortable in there and don’t worry I won’t set you up on any dates.”

Jubal laughed softly as he saw Maggie pulled a face when he mentioned about dates, he thought that if she knew that she really was safe with him about not setting her up dates. Unless of course it was setting her up on a date with himself, because that was the only person that he wanted Maggie to be going out with. Jubal shook his head gently as if trying to shake that thought from his head, he needed to keep that to himself.

Maggie stood up when she heard Jubal mention about the conference room and he wasn’t sure if she had changed her mind and was going home or if she was in fact going to join him in the conference room. He soon got his answer when he heard her speaking while she lifted her files,

“I’m good with keeping each other company and don’t worry, I know that no one could be as annoying as OA with the dating thing or anything in general.”

Maggie laughed softly as she lifted everything she needed and headed towards the conference room. Jubal watched her as she walked away, he wondered if she realised just how beautiful she was when she laughed or even just smiled. He knew he was in trouble when he started to realise that he had feelings for Maggie, but he was trying to keep them to himself as he didn’t want to ruin their work relationship by making her uncomfortable. Jubal was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Maggie’s voice again,

“You coming or are you planing on leaving the paperwork to me?”.

Jubal pushed himself off OA’s desk and headed towards the conference room at the back of the JOC, it allowed him to still see the few analysts that were there and it meant they knew where to find him if they needed him.

He and Maggie had been working on the paperwork for a little while now, they had been discussing mostly the case so that they could get the paperwork done and out of the way. Jubal checked the time and had asked Maggie if she was hungry, so he had ordered food for them both. They had been sitting opposite each other at the table and were both now leaning back in their chairs as they ate their food. Maggie reached forward to grab the bottle of water Jubal had brought in for her

“How are Abigail and Tyler doing?.”

Jubal had never introduced the kids to anyone that he worked with, but he talked about his kids a lot with the team and had shown photos of them regularly. He smiled when he heard Maggie ask about his kids,

“They are growing up a little too fast for me.” He laughed softly, “But they are excited about this weekend, they love going to see Sam’s family, so as much as I miss them I know they are having fun.”

“Next weekend if we have paperwork you can let OA, Stuart, and Kristen take care of it and you can actually get out of here at a decent time to see them. Only fair” Maggie chuckled softly.

“You have a good point there”. Jubal laughed softly as he lay his empty container on the table and lifted the napkin wiping his hands “So how has it been getting back out there and dating?” Jubal chuckled when Maggie raised an eyebrow at him “You do know that the whole JOC knows that OA is setting you up dates, hearing him tonight wasn’t the first I knew you were back out dating. We don’t have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable.”

Jubal was afraid that he had maybe pushed too far by asking and now had made her uncomfortable, he just thought that they were talking about their personal lives since she had asked about the kids. Maggie sat down her food container and took another drink of water as she looked at Jubal. 

“No, it doesn’t make me uncomfortable, just makes me want to kill OA.” She laughed as she lay her head back on the chair “I swear OA seems to think that I have never been on a date before, you know he offered to help me practice by pretending to be my date and practice conversations.” Maggie rolled her eyes, shaking her head laughing.

“I think for OA it’s his way of showing you that he cares, if he ever pretends to be your date to help you practice I am going to need Kristen to video that.” Jubal laughed as he lay his hands on his on his stomach, fingers entangled. “Have the dates really been that bad?”.

“Oh trust me if he doesn’t stop giving me ‘date topics’ or ‘date questions’ you will know, the whole JOC will know because I’ll definitely kill him.” Maggie knew that OA was doing it because he cared about her but it was a little much at times. “The dates haven’t been bad, there just isn’t any of them that have made me consider a second date with them. According to OA I am being too picky.”

“I know OA is doing all of this because he cares but it’s not being too picky, if you don’t feel it with someone on the first date then you can’t help it. Clearly your dates so far haven’t realised how lucky they were to have gotten you out on a first date, their loss.”

Jubal hadn’t exactly meant for that to come out of his mouth, he was mentally kicking himself. So much for keeping the fact that he liked Maggie to himself, there was no way she had missed what he had said and now he had just screwed up their working relationship. He was sure that the only reason she was still sitting there was because she was in complete shock. He really should have been more careful with his words, he had no idea how he was going to fix this.

Maggie’s breath caught when she heard Jubal, was he being serious or was he just saying it to be nice to her? She was playing the words over again in her head, maybe he was just trying to make her feel better about the fact that none of the dates had really worked out. When she looked at him she was sure that he hadn’t meant to actually say what he had. She decided to take a risk, things were already going to be awkward for a bit between them so her taking this risk couldn’t make it any worse.

Jubal was about to apologise to Maggie for crossing the line with what he said when he saw her lean forward resting her elbows on the table and looking at him.

“You want the opportunity to prove to me that some men are worth a second date?.”

Jubal was expecting Maggie to get upset at him for crossing the line, he never for a second thought that he would be hearing that question from her. He could tell looking at her that she was being serious, he wasn’t sure he could get his brain or mouth to form words right now but he shook himself out of his daze.

“You give me the chance of a first date and I will prove to you that they didn’t know how lucky they were and that some of us are worth second dates.”

Maggie could hear her heart beating in her ears, to her it was so loud that she was sure that Jubal could hear it. She had no idea how she sounded so confident right now. 

“Okay, you can have the chance to prove it.” 

Jubal now had a smile on his face as he looked at Maggie, this was definitely not how he thought this night was going to go when he had asked Maggie if she wanted to keep him company in the conference room.

“Tomorrow night too soon for you?.” Jubal knew it wasn’t often that they got the weekend off work and she knew that he didn’t have the kids this weekend so it was the perfect opportunity for them both.

“Afraid I’ll change my mind if you give me too much time?” She teased playfully, she knew exactly why he had asked about tomorrow night “Tomorrow night sounds good to me, we both know we are free.”

Jubal couldn’t help the smirk when he heard Maggie teasing him, the nerves were slowly leaving him, he knew that they couldn’t really go out in public for dates as they both had to be careful because if he did prove to her that he was worth a second date they didn’t need anyone at work getting involved in their personal lives too soon.

“How do you feel about me coming to yours with takeout and we can watch a movie?” He knew that it sounded so simple, he wanted to take Maggie out to a fancy restaurant and see her getting dressed up, it was what she deserved, but he was hoping that she understood why he was suggesting this.

Maggie let out a breath she didn’t even realise she was holding when she heard him suggest about staying in for the date. She was not embarrassed about going on a date with Jubal but she did not need OA or anyone else at work getting involved right now.

“You know that sounds perfect, you pick the food and I’ll pick the movie. You can text me tomorrow with what time you will be over tomorrow night.” Maggie stood up and lifted her phone from the table as she smiled looking at Jubal “I think we can call it a night tonight and I’ll see you tomorrow night?”.

“Trusting me to pick the food, not something I’ll take lightly” Jubal smirked playfully his confidence slowly coming back to him. Maggie started to tidy up their takeout containers and he shook his head “I’ll take care of this, you head home and I’ll text you tomorrow to let you know what time I’ll be over.”

Maggie smiled looking at Jubal as she walked towards the door to the conference room, she stopped at the door looking back at Jubal “So much for not setting me up on a date. See you tomorrow night”.

Before Jubal could say anything Maggie had left the conference room smirking and headed out of the JOC, before leaving the JOC she looked back over her shoulder at Jubal and they both smiled at each other. This was not how either of them had planned on this night going when they had walked into that conference room to finish up paperwork together. 


End file.
